This invention relates to continuous business forms assemblies (business form intermediates) which are subsequently processed to become individual sealed mailers and is particularly concerned with continuous business forms assemblies comprising a plurality of individual business forms in continuous format and each intended to carry confidential information such as a personal identification number (PIN number) at a predetermined position on the form so that it will be hidden when printed on the form and will be inside the sealed mailer.
Conventionally continuous business forms have longitudinal marginal edge portions provided with feed holes for accurate correlation with a printer or other processing machines and are divided into a number of form or mailer lengths by transverse lines of perforation. Such continuous business forms are printed with all the information common to all forms, are provided with all adhesive necessary for forming sealed mailers, are provided with any patches or windows required and are then fan folded and boxed in appropriate lengths for dispatch to a user who wishes to personalize individual form lengths, form them into mailers and dispatch them to customers. In the particular case of forwarding their PIN numbers to customers this user would be a bank or credit card issuing organization.
In U.S. Pat. No. 4,824,142 (the disclosure of which is hereby incorporated by reference herein) there is described a continuous business form assembly for recording and dispatching PIN numbers. A continuous web is divided into form lengths and an area of each form Length intended to receive a customer's PIN number has adhered thereto a masking patch of the type known as an O.P.A.S. patch. Such a patch has a top surface printed with a masking pattern, and a lower surface coated with a CB (coated back) coating and the area receiving the patch is coated with a CF (coated front) coating to act with the CB coating on the patch to produce on the area a reproduction of a PIN number which has been impacted on the top surface of the patch. Only when the patch is peeled away can the number be seen.
The web of that assembly is formed into mailers by one of two methods; either the web is plow folded about a longitudinal central line into two overlying panels which are adhered together to form each mailer or two separate webs are collated together and secured around the edges of each form length.
As the patch requires impact printing to transfer the impression of the PIN number onto the web area beneath the patch and an impact printer can only print on one side of the web, the addressee details must be printed on the same side of the web and in the prior art such a system requires the address to be viewed through a window.
According to the present invention, an improved continuous business form assembly (intermediate) suitable for impact printing to receive PIN numbers (or other confidential information) and personalized details of addressees and which can then be folded and sealed to provide sealed final business forms (mailers) in which the PIN numbers will be enclosed, is provided.
According to one aspect of the present invention a business form intermediate is provided. The intermediate has the following elements: A sheet having first and second opposite faces, parallel first and second edges, and parallel third and fourth edges perpendicular to the first and second edges. First and second fold lines parallel to the first and second edges, and dividing the sheet into first, second, and third panels, the first panel bordered by the first edge and first fold line, and the second panel between the first and third panels. One of the second and third panels has an outgoing address area formed on the first face thereof. The first panel has a patch, with inner and outer surfaces, adhesively secured to the first face thereof, the patch having an outer surface with masking means associated therewith, and transfer means provided between the patch inner surface and the first panel first face. And, adhesive patterns associated with the panels for holding the business form when folded into a C-fold configuration, folded about the first fold line first, and then the second fold line, to provide the first panel first surface covered by the third panel so that the patch is not visible from the exterior of the formed mailer.
Preferably the panel having the outgoing address area formed on its first face is the second panel, and the adhesive patterns comprise cooperating adhesive patterns formed on the first panel first face and third panel second face, and cooperating adhesive patterns on the second and first panels second faces. The adhesive patterns preferably comprise pressure seal adhesive. Masking indicia is provided on the third panel for minimizing the transparency and translucency thereof, such is on both faces or merely the second face. Also masking indicia is printed on the second face of the first panel.
The business form intermediate is preferably in continuous format, with like sheets connected along the first and second edges thereof by lines of weakness (e.g. perforations). Also indicia describing the utilization of a PIN number imaged on the first panel first face adjacent the patch is preferably provided. The transfer means typically comprises CB and CF coatings on the patch and a portion of the first panel first face. Lines of weakness (perforations) are disposed parallel to the third and fourth edges interior of the patterns of adhesive for allowing ready opening of the mailer once C-folded with the panels thereof adhesively secured together.
The invention also comprises a business form per se, namely a mailer type business form. The components of the business form are: A sheet having first, second and third panels, each with a first face and a second face, C-folded about fold lines so that said third panel second face engages the first panel first face and the first panel second face engages the second panel second face. One of the second and third panels having an outgoing address area formed on the first face thereof. The first panel having a patch, with inner and outer surfaces, adhesively secured to the first face thereof, the patch having an outer surface with masking means associated therewith, and transfer means provided between the patch inner surface and the first panel first face. And, adhesive patterns holding the second panel second face and first panel second face, and third panel second face and first panel first face, together in the C-folded configuration.
The business form according to the invention typically comprises outgoing address indicia printed in the outgoing address area (e.g. on the second panel first face) and a PIN number on the first panel first face covered by the patch.
According to another aspect of the present invention, a business form intermediate is provided comprising the following elements: A sheet having first and second opposite faces, parallel first and second edges, and parallel third and fourth edges perpendicular to the first and second edges. First and second fold lines parallel to the first and second edges, and dividing the sheet into first, second, and third panels, the first panel bordered by the first edge and first fold line, and the second panel between the first and third panels. One of the second and third panels having an outgoing address area formed thereon. One of the first and second panels having a patch, with inner and outer surfaces, adhesively secured to the first face thereof, the patch having an outer surface with masking means associated therewith, and transfer means provided between the patch inner surface and the first or second panel first face. And, adhesive patterns associated with the panels for holding the business form in a Z-fold configuration when folded about the first and second fold lines to provide the first panel first surface covered by the second panel first face so that the patch is not visible from the exterior of a formed mailer, but so that the outgoing address area is visible from the exterior of a formed mailer.
The outgoing address area is preferably formed on the first face of the third panel, and there is also provided a window in the third panel adjacent the address area. Return and reply indicia are printed on the second and first face, respectively, of the second panel to align with the window in forming an outgoing mailer, or return mailer. Provision of the return mailer is facilitated also by providing strips of activatable (e.g. rewettable) adhesive on the first face of the second panel to cooperate with the first face of the third panel to form a reply mailer after a mailer constructed from the intermediate is opened up.
According to another aspect of the present invention, a mailer type business form is provided which comprises the following elements: A quadrate sheet having first, second and third panels, each with a first face and a second face, Z-folded about fold lines so that the third panel second face engages the second panel second face and the first panel first face engages the second panel first face, to define first through fourth edges of each panel. One of the second and third panels having an outgoing address area formed thereon. One of the first and second panels having a patch, with inner and outer surfaces, adhesively secured to the first face thereof, the patch having an outer surface with masking means associated therewith, and transfer means provided between the patch inner surface and the first panel first face. And, adhesive patterns holding the panels together in the Z-folded configuration, with the first faces of the first and second panels in face-to-face engagement with each other.
It is the primary object of the present invention to provide advantageous continuous business form intermediates, and C-folded and Z-folded mailer type business forms produced therefrom, that are easy to print (including a PIN number which is maintained confidential), and then make into a mailer. This and other objects of the invention will become clear from an inspection of the detailed description of the invention and from the appended claims.